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Feb. 26, 2004
2004 ACC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The University of Virginia Cavaliers took the lead after Thursday’s (February 26) second day of competition of the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship, being held at the Aquatic and Fitness Center on the grounds of the University of Virginia.
Virginia holds a commanding lead with 314 points through the conclusion of Thursday evening’s races. Florida State is in second with 204 points after seven events, and Georgia Tech stands third with 157.5 points. Rounding out the field are North Carolina (155.50), Clemson (148), N.C. State (142), Maryland (114), and Duke (71).
The Virginia men began the night with a sweep of the top three spots in the 500 freestyle. The Cavaliers were led by second-year Fran Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa./Germantown Acad.), who won his second consecutive ACC title in the event. Crippen’s time of 4:17.90 is an NCAA automatic qualifying time and his fastest of the season. In second for Virginia was fourth-year Ian Prichard (Ventura, Calif./Buena). Prichard touched in 4:18.79, which also met the NCAA “A” standard. First-year John Millen (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) placed third in the first individual ACC final of his career. Millen clocked a career-best time of 4:19.09 to round out Virginia’s NCAA automatic qualifiers in the event. First-year Stefan Hirniak (Highland Park, N.J./Princeton Day) met the NCAA “B” or consideration standard in the 500 with his time of 4:23.34, good for fifth place.
In the 200 individual medley, Virginia third-year Bo Greenwood (Manakin, Va./Goochland) won his third consecutive event title with an NCAA “B” time of 1:48.10. Greenwood came from behind in the last leg of the race to become only the fourth man in ACC history to win the 200 I.M. event title three consecutive years. Second-year Ryan Berg (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) finished second behind Greenwood with a time of 1:49.24 to meet the NCAA consideration standard. Fourth-year Luke Wagner (Englewood, Colo./Regis Jesuit) placed fourth in the event, touching in at 1:49.40 (NCAA “B”).
In the 50 freestyle, the fourth-year duo of Adam Kerpelman (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s School) and Jon Haag (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) finished third and fifth, respectively. Kerpelman clocked a time of 20.32, meeting the NCAA consideration standard, while Haag touched in 20.42. The winner of the 50 freestyle was N.C. State sophomore Cullen Jones, who touched in with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 19.70.
On the one-meter diving board, Virginia fourth-year Pete Amstutz (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) took second with a NCAA Zone B qualifying score of 310.85. The winner in the one-meter event was Clemson’s Eric Shulick with a score of 314.60. Second-year Andrew Barber (Vienna, Va./Marshall) finished fifth on the one-meter board with a score of 297.65.
UVa rounded out the second day of competition by winning the 200 freestyle relay with a NCAA consideration time of 1:19.94. Kerpelman , Haag, first-year Greg Imboden (Chattanooga, Tenn./McCallie), and second-year Ethan McCoy (McMinnville, Ore./McMinnville) each swam legs on the winning relay and the Cavaliers recorded four of the top 10 splits (of a total of 32) in the relay.
The ACC Championship will resume Friday (February 27), with preliminaries beginning at 11:00 a.m. and finals commencing at 7:00 p.m.